Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My honourable friend the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality (Tony McNulty) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Government are committed to maintaining effective immigration controls while at the same time ensuring that genuine passengers are able to pass through our ports with the least possible inconvenience.
	The UK will stop accepting South African temporary passports with effect from today. This decision has been taken due to concerns over the effectiveness of the South African passport-issuing process and the impact that has on our immigration controls.
	Fraudulently obtained South African passports are regularly encountered at UK ports, held by a wide variety of nationalities. The South African temporary passport, which is issued pending the issue of a full South African passport, poses a particular problem as fewer checks are carried out prior to issue. In our opinion, the temporary passport does not satisfactorily establish identity or nationality/citizenship or is in compliance with international passport practice. As a consequence there is intelligence to suggest that these passports provide an easy target for those with other nationalities who seek to come to the UK illegally.
	This decision will not prevent South African nationals coming to the UK, but it will require them to obtain a full South African passport before coming here.
	Transitional arrangements will apply to those who already hold SA temporary passports obtained on or before 19 April. Those travellers who purchased tickets prior to 19 April will be able to travel on their temporary passports to the UK before 1 June; those who purchase an airline ticket after the announcement but before 10 May will be able to travel to the UK on their temporary passport, providing they arrive in the UK before 10 May; and those who purchase an airline ticket following 19 April for travel between 10 and 31 May can travel to the UK before 1 June provided they have first secured a visa for entry to the UK. This will ensure that anyone with plans to visit the UK will be able to do so or will have time to secure a new full South African passport.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Minister of State for Pensions Reform (Stephen Timms) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	In the autumn of 2005 we issued the draft Occupational Pensions Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2006 for consultation. One of the proposals contained in the draft regulations was a new requirement that an annual benefit statement should be issued automatically to everyone in non-money purchase pension schemes, including deferred members and pension credit members.
	Representations were made in the consultation that there was no need for the statements to be issued automatically to deferred members and pension credit members, as the information contained therein would not change year on year. While it is useful to remind people regularly about their pension entitlement, we have been persuaded that the burden of issuing automatic statements to deferred and pension credit members would be disproportionate.
	The proposed requirement to provide automatic statements to active scheme members will remain. Additionally the current provision, which requires that relevant information must be provided to deferred and pension credit members on request, will be carried forward into the new regulations. Although it will not be mandatory for non-money purchase pension schemes to provide deferred and pension credit members with an automatic annual statement, schemes may wish to provide this information on a voluntary basis. Many already provide this helpful facility.
	A full response to the consultation will be published with the final regulations. The regulations will come into effect from October 2006, although the annual benefit statement changes are applicable only for scheme years ending on or after 6 April 2007.